Study of particulate matter formation and evolution in near-field aircraft plumes using a one-dimensional microphysical model

Environmental concerns have led to a growing effort to investigate and characterize the particulate matter (PM) emissions from aircraft engines. This thesis presents a one-dimensional microphysics and chemical kinetics model that is used to study the formation and evolution of particulate matter in near field aircraft plumes at ground level. The initial exhaust properties were obtained from engine data and plume mixing profiles were generated using FLUENT®. The initial gas species concentrations were estimated based on a two-step constrained equilibrium process. Parametric studies of the effects of ambient temperature, ambient relative humidity, engine operating conditions and engine design parameters on the aerosol formation were investigated using the one dimensional model following a centerline trajectory up to lkm downstream of the engine exit plane. PM formation and evolution characteristics along trajectories from several radial locations were also investigated and compared to the results from the centerline study. The results from this study show that binary homogeneous H2SO4-H20 nucleation strongly depends on ambient conditions such as ambient temperature and relative humidity whereas the condensational growth of soot particles is most dependent on engine power settings.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Zhang, Jianye, S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ian Waitz.

• Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39714

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39714